Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Trofie with Potatoes Peas and Pesto

For this weeks Pasta Presto Night, which is being hosted here, I've found myself drawn to that most typical of Ligurian pasta, Trofie

Trofie is an egg free pasta generally made with a combination of durum wheat and semolina and bound only with water. The trofie are formed by taking small round of dough and rolling it between your fingers to form this rather organic spiral. Much like snowflakes, no two are really alike.

For this type of pasta you would serve it with that other Ligurian speciality, pesto. Having recently enjoyed a rather excellent Ligurian dinner, I was introduced to another version of this dish that adds green beans and potatoes.

As I like to play around with things, I've made my version using fresh green peas and purple congo potatoes - I think the contrast of green and purple looks good.

Prepare the potatoes:
Either steam or boil them in their skin until tender. Peel and then cut into a small dice.

Prepare the peas:
As peas are great this time of the year, I'm just going to give them a quick blast in the pasta water. When the pasta is ready, drop in the peas and cook for about 30 seconds and then drain.

Assemble the dish:
Place the drained pasta into a serving bowl and drop in a spoonful of pesto - give it a quick stir and then sprinkle in the diced potatoes. Add in a little more pesto before giving it another gentle stir.

Serve into bowls with a good sprinkling of freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Great job hosting! The round up looks awesome, as does this dish. I love the contrast of colors with the purple potatoes, green peas, and white pasta. So aesthetically pleasing, as well as palate-pleasing I'm sure!